The SLC Dunk Staff and I were talking in our group chat recently and the topic of “The Process” came up. We were originally bashing the NBC/Peacock broadcast for airing a commercial that referred to the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers as “two teams that never rebuild, they just reload.” Apart from the blatant […]
9 days ago | 3 reads
Have you ever watched a cartoon scuffle evolve into a swirling cloud of dust, stars, limbs, and onomatepea? With the participants jostling, wrestling, and tackling at such a high speed, the animators are physically incapable (or occupationally unwilling) of sketching at a quick enough rate to keep pace with the escalating kerfuffle. Dust and dirt […]
9 days ago | 4 reads
It’s down to the nitty gritty here in Jazz Nation. The playoffs are out-of-sight, the injuries are stacking, and the league is zeroed-in and hoping to make a don’t-tank example out of us. Do we continue losing naturally (which I still believe we have been doing) or do we put all of our chips in […]
10 days ago | 3 reads
The Utah Jazz’s tanking effort gets a gift on Monday night, when Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets travel to Salt Lake City to take on the Jazz. The Nuggets are in the midst of the chaos that is the Western Conference’s Nos. 3-7-seed range, with only 3.5 games separating the No. 3 Rockets from […]
10 days ago | 2 reads
The Utah Jazz successfully lose yet another must-lose tank-off game vs the New Orleans Pelicans, with the final score of 105-115. The Pelicans have nothing to lose since their pick goes to the Atlanta Hawks this year, but with this loss, the Utah Jazz and Pelicans are now tied for the 5th-best odds in landing […]
12 days ago | 3 reads
The Utah Jazz will take on the New Orleans Pelicans for the second game in a row. The Pelicans took a big lead in the last game and handled the Jazz pretty well until late. There will be a difference in this one with Keyonte George returning from injury. George has not played since he […]
12 days ago | 2 reads
Youth took center stage Thursday night when the Jazz met the Pelicans at the Delta Center, with four of the five Jazz starters aged 22 or younger. With multiple key players out of the lineup due to injury or season ending surgery, the game also provided second unit and bench players with extended minutes as […]
13 days ago | 2 reads
The Utah Jazz lost vital game in the tank-race against the New Orleans Pelicans, with a final score of 129-118. With this loss, Utah ties New Orleans in the win column, putting the Jazz well within reach of a top-five lottery position. The Jazz and Pelicans are currently on opposite trajectories – Utah is dropping […]
14 days ago | 5 reads
According to Shams Charania (through agents), the Utah Jazz have signed Mo Bamba to a 10-day contract. This likely comes because of the loss to Jusuf Nurkic, who is out for the season. Bamba was on the Jazz roster to start the season and now makes his return. We’ll see if this will turn into […]
14 days ago | 2 reads
It looks like Adam Silver wants to have his cake and eat it, too. Yesterday, I wrote about Tony Jones reporting that the NBA was sending its own doctors to verify the injury to Lauri Markkanen. Today, Tony Jones apologized for getting something wrong. Apparently, they are just going to verify the MRIs, which is […]
14 days ago | 2 reads
The Utah Jazz will play in front of their fans for the first time in two weeks on Thursday night. Unfortunately for Jazz fans, it might not be a star-studded affair, as Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George are both listed as questionable for the game against New Orleans. With both player likely out, and the […]
14 days ago | 4 reads
According to Tony Jones, Adam Silver is sending independent doctors to verify the injury to Lauri Markkanen. This news comes on the heels of those independent doctors visiting the Indiana Pacers and pressuring them to medicate an injured player to play. What’s clear from this whole situation is that Adam Silver is not interested in […]
15 days ago | 3 reads
Everybody wants the NBA to fix tanking. Nobody knows how to do it. Tanking. You’ve seen the word thousands of times in your recent social media doom scroll. You’ve heard it repeated countless times on television and podcasts to the point of semantic satiation — the word is losing all meaning. It’s just a jumble […]
15 days ago | 4 reads
According to Kevin Reynolds, Lauri Markkanen was injured in practice and will receive an MRI. From Reynolds: Utah Jazz star Lauri Markkanen could miss some time after suffering an injury in practice on Wednesday. Markkanen will be evaluated for a right ankle and right hip injury, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. […]
15 days ago | 2 reads
Things move quickly in the NBA news cycle. It’s been a few weeks since the Utah Jazz were chosen to be the scapegoats for Adam Silver’s terrible plan to flatten lottery odds in 2019. Instead of the flattened odds preventing tanking, they made it worse by incentivizing middle-lottery teams to lose more. Utah had to […]
16 days ago | 3 reads
According to Sarah Todd, it appears that Vince Williams Jr. may have suffered a season-ending injury in the Jazz’s game against the Houston Rockets. If you haven’t seen the play, Williams took a shot from Tari Eason coming down the court, and his knee appeared to hyperextend sideways. After the game, it looks like Keyonte […]
17 days ago | 5 reads
The Jazz fell to the Rockets, 105-125, in a defeat that was all but assured ever since the opening quarter. Not that Jazz fans are complaining; with the next two games being against the Pelicans, where losses are far from guaranteed, an easy and relaxed addition to the teams ping pong balls versus Houston is […]
17 days ago | 1 read
This was the news greeted by fans at 1 AM, as the team is headed to the Lone Star State to wrap up their two-game road trip against the Houston Rockets — wait for it….on National Television! Ever since the Jazz pulled the plug on Operation Jaren, Nurkic hasn’t been able to grace the floor […]
17 days ago | 2 reads
Per NBA insider Chris Haynes, the Jazz will be without backup center Jusuf Nurkić moving forward due to an urgent medical procedure: I’m not a doctor, but I figure this procedure is urgent because Jusuf Nurkić is playing too well. For the Jazz, who are fighting to keep pace in a hotly contested race for […]
17 days ago | 2 reads
The Utah Jazz are going to be in a very tight tanking race to end this season. Right now, they’re competing with the Kings, Pacers, Nets, Pelicans, and Wizards to jump into the top-5 come lottery night. A team to watch is the New Orleans Pelicans, who are not incentivized to tank at all this […]
18 days ago | 6 reads
According to Jake Fischer, the Utah Jazz are “determined to retain … Walker Kessler.” From Fischer, who was talking about the Indiana Pacers and their recent deal to trade for Ivica Zubac: Trading for Zubac likely cements the Pacers’ return to title contention in 2026-27 once Tyrese Haliburton is back from his crushing Achilles’ tear […]
18 days ago | 2 reads
The Jazz win a massive tank battle! The Jazz lost a game against the Grizzlies that they led and controlled most of the first half, but fizzled out in the second half—losing the third and fourth quarters by a combined 21 points. It was actually a very important game. Before the game started, the Jazz […]
20 days ago | 2 reads
The Jazz snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and lost 114-123. Depending on who you ask this was either a masterclass in tanking, or an embarrassing implosion. This game also featured many familiar faces for both teams, (Hello Kyle Anderson, and Taylor Hendricks) as well as an emotional homecoming for Jaren Jackson Jr. Ace […]
20 days ago | 3 reads
The Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies will have a tank-off their first game post all-star break and it will be mostly a competition of young guys in this one. The flattened odds that Adam Silver set up are to blame for this game and situation. The Grizzlies would likely not care about losing games if […]
20 days ago | 0 reads
There’s a plague passing through the National Basketball Association, and it’s not tanking. Sure, the act of deliberately putting your team at a disadvantage in the hopes of improving draft odds is detrimental to the spirit of competition — when one of the teams doesn’t care to win, why should the fans? But the NBA […]
22 days ago | 1 read